Two Dresses for Two Precious Girls

My Three White Dressesby Linda Gay Perry Nelson 

My mom bought me a white dress,
Not red or pink or blue.
She said it was a special dress
Like very other few.

There has been just one before,
A dress now put away.
That I wore sometime ago upon my blessing day.
As a little baby clothed in my first white dress,
My dad held me in his arms, there to name and bless.
So pure and clean was I just then,
With time to grow and learn
About the Father's plan for me.
My glory I must earn.

Now I've reached the age to judge the wrong road from the right,
And I am here to be baptized in this dress of white.
So once again I'm free from sin,
The path is clear to me.
I'll grasp the road and hold on tight,
I vow with certainty.
Just as mud would stain my dress,
Sin would stain my soul.
The key is to repent or bleach,
For whiteness is my goal.

And if I try my very best,
Then richly blessed I'll be,
Wearing inside God's holy house
White dress number three.
So today I make this pledge:
I'll strive to choose the right,
Through this sacred baptism ordinance
In my second dress of white. 

What a joy these little twins have been to our family.

Special Delivery

Check out what we found delivered on our porch!  Jarin stuffed in a box!  His legs grew so long so fast that he popped out and grew some more.  Our 12 year old is now 5'9".  I have no idea how that happened.  He is our tall gruff, yet tender hearted, loving, caring, worries about his siblings boy.  Don't tell him I wrote that.  He thinks he's tough, but I know better!  Love you Jarin!

The Mysterious La

Who gave this girl the looks, the brains, and the awesomeness?  With a little help from her momma and poppa and a lot of Makayla power, she is exceptional!  We are proud of our little La La who recently received her Young Women Recognition Award, scored a 29 on her ACT and scored a 4 on her AP US History test.  Wow!  Way to go!

Don't Worry Be Happy

Just a silly video showing off our amazingly awesome family talents of singing and dancing.  Don't be jealous, be happy!  Then we all piled on Jarin since he was being such a party pooper.

The Piano Room

The beginning of every year I always get an itch to redo, improve, and make things fresh.  This year I tackled the piano room.  I started ripping the chair rail off the wall and pulling the floor boards up.  Cam and I put up boards and a shelf to give our room a new look.  That led us to give the entire upstairs a fresh coat of paint (same color).  I then painted ALL the trim upstairs white, repainted the island and computer desk black, painted the banister and railing black, and bought new/used stools and painted them black.  Whew!  I love the new look!  Disclaimer:  it took a couple of months to complete it all.

New Year

Traditionally we spend the New Year sledding at one of our favorite hills.  This year the hill was dry with only a smashed road construction barrow that we think someone tried to slide down the hill with and failed.   It only snowed a handful of times and didn't last more than a day or two all winter.  Instead of sitting around on this nice warm day, the kids got on their bikes and went door to door selling car washes.  We spent the afternoon washing winter dirt off cars and making a little bit of money.  Our neighbor and friend Ro came and was thrilled to see that her car, Carlton, was white again.  It was a good day.